February 2009

Have you seen this site?

by Karen on February 28, 2009

in Baking/cooking, quilting links, weather

Jinny BeyerMany of you have heard of quilter Jinny Beyer, but have you looked at her site and seen all the wonderful available free patterns that she offers?  Jinny Beyer is well known for being a hand piecer and a hand quilter.  She does wonderful work.  Here is a link to the Jinny Beyer Studio.  She offers a free block of the week and additional patterns that have been offered at other times.  All of these blocks can be either hand pieced or machine pieced.  You can order fabric from her fabric lines and shop for other products as well.  I have one of her books “Quiltmaking by Hand” and it is very helpful to beginning hand piecers.  In the book she shows you step by step how to hand piece and how to hand quilt.  But like I say all of her patterns can be done by sewing machine also.

I have no bread recipe to post as it didn’t turn out!  It was a new recipe that I tried and it just wasn’t right.  It didn’t want to rise the amount it should have so it was kind of flat!  That’s ok – you win some – you lose some.  The sourdough pancakes this morning though were light and fluffy and tasted wonderful.

We have had snow flurries off and on all afternoon — weird because we have had temperatures in the 60′s off and on for weeks now and starting on Tuesday it will be back in the 60′s again and possibly near 70!  this snow sure will not last for long.  Typical Arkansas late winter/early spring.   It has only been in the low 30′s most of the day and down to the 20′s tonight.  Oh well – it won’t last long and it will be spring.   Now back to work on quilting.

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Interesting link….

by Karen on February 27, 2009

in Baking/cooking, Dear Jane - "Insanity Revisited", Dear Jane -- or Insanity as I call, Interesting Links, quilts

I belong to an on-line quilting group with yahoo and the list volunteer is always putting so many links to different things that are interesting that I thought I would start to share them with you all.  Some of them I am interested in and some things I am not.  One of the good ones that she shared today is free quilting patterns at this link for Quilter’s World.  If you want some free patterns you might want to check them out.  Normally you must download a file but you do not pay for it.  Just follow the directions and then you can print out your pattern.

I sewed a few of the “Insanity Revisited” blocks together with sashing today but other than that didn’t do anything in the line of sewing or quilting.  I will quilt again on my “Insanity” in a little while.  I am about 1/2 way done with the first border so it is coming along nicely.

Reading the new John Grisham book the other day got me thinking of some of his other books and I am now started on the book that I read first of his.  His second novel “The Firm” the very first book I read 2nd or 3rd.  It seems it hadn’t done well until some of his other books came out and then it was reprinted and did well enough to be turned into a movie, “A Time to Kill”.

Tomorrow I am trying two new recipes.  The sourdough pancakes that I got the recipe from on The Dakota Country Kitchen that we will have for breakfast and a new recipe that I found somewhere on line for sourdough rye bread.  I will take pictures of the bread tomorrow and share the recipe after I make sure it turns out good   :)    I would hate to post a recipe that fails.

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another block F-8

by Karen on February 26, 2009

in Dear Jane - "Insanity Revisited", Dear Jane -- or Insanity as I call, Interesting Links, life in general, quilts

F-8 church windowAnother Dear Jane block F-8 Church Window for “Insanity Revisited” got finished today.  Today was our small dear Jane group meeting and we sewed from about 12 to 3 today, believe me I needed the whole time to do this one and had one seam to finish after I got home.  I would have just stitched until I was done but I was getting my hair cut at 3:30 so had to start packing it in a little after 3 so I wouldn’t be late.

The good news on the hair is that just about all the old hair dye is now cut off and I’m almost “natural”.  The back of my head is still just about all dark hair where as the front isn’t in such good shape   :(    I am almost pure white on the sides and gray scattering over the top mixed in with the medium dark brown hair – what a combo, but we will see how it goes, it isn’t real bad to look at and I guess I am getting use to it. The sides that are white is short and has some dark hair covering it so it’s not like it is striped or anything   :)   I would like to stick to my guns of not going back to dyeing it but we will see – I will need a little while looking at it to decide.

Quilting on the “Insanity” quilt has not progressed a lot this week as I wasn’t home yesterday and went to bed early – Dear Janetoday I have been out most of the day but I will be quilting on it this evening.  This is how much is done right now.  Just click on it and it will take you to a much larger photo.

Are any of you fans of John Grisham?  I love his books.  That is I always use to then I got kind of tired of them and he seemed to change his writing a little bit 3313023142_47f9dcb255over the last 5 years or so I thought.  I had heard that this newest book was back to his early style of writing like “The Firm” and “The Pelican Brief” so I got it on sale the other day.  I buy the books that I know I will reread which I do a lot.  I loved the book – as it was publicized–  it very much was like his older style of writing and I really enjoyed the book.  I love novels of the law-spy-WWII-police – cold war era — I do read romatic novels sometimes as well but they do not hold my interest as much.  I also love the gory CSI type of book.  Anyone know of any good ones that fall into those categories?

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fabric arrived

by Karen on February 25, 2009

in Christmas Baltimore Album, life in general, quilts, weather

fabricThis was a really fast company to order from.  I ordered from the Fat Quarter World on the 21st Saturday and my order arrived today while I was visiting my mom.  That was really fast service.  I got 5 different fabrics, 3 reds at 1/2 yard cuts and 2 greens in 1 yard cuts.  I also got some of those really tiny applique pins – something like 3/4 inch long or maybe they were 1/2 inch long – they are tiny.  The colors are very Christmasy.  I think two of them the batiks textured solids – one green and one red were discontinued.  A pity – they sure are pretty.

I had a good drive up to visit my mom in Bentonville (Arkansas) the drive was uneventful – the kind you want, no witnessing car accidents or anything along the way.  Plenty of state troopers out today but I don’t speed (usually) and have cruise control set at 70 the whole way so no worry for me.  It was so cloudy when I started out I thought it might not end up being a nice day but it got up to 70 in Bentonville and was sunny the whole day.  Mike told me later that here at home it was cloudy all day out here at home and cooler (we are almost always in the shade so usually cooler here than in town).  I took mom out to the outside mall in Rogers – it is called Pinnacle Promenade – a very nice outside mall – if you love shopping it is a good place to go.  I am not a real “shopper” if you know what I mean.  But mom is wheelchair bound and 84 years old and rarely gets to go anywhere other than Wal-Mart and the doctors office so when I go visit I take her places to get her out of her apartment and breath the fresh air.  It is easiest to go someplace like this where we can eat and shop in the same place as it is getting harder every year to get the wheelchair in and out of the car a dozen times.  She loved the sun shining on her and listening to the chatter of everyone shopping, looking at clothes ect.  She ended up not buying a darn thing and I walked away with 3 shirts and a pair of shoes!  After that we went to Wal-Mart where she wanted to get a new can opener – her purchase for the day  :)    and she was happy so that is what mattered.

I am tired though and so this is short today.  Driving 4 hours in one day and then lunch & shopping  from 11 to 3 can be tiring in my opinion!  I’m not that much of a shopper – I go get the item I want and I’m normally in and out in 10 minutes or whatever.

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More fabric…

by Karen on February 24, 2009

in life in general, quilting links

OK I know I said at the beginning of the year that I was going to try really hard to not buy any fabric except for backings and background — I really was going to and will again – but I found for the Christmas Baltimore Album blocks I just did not have enough of the red and greens needed for that project.  So I fell off the wagon already and ordered some fabric — just reds/greens for this certain project.  I will try to be good for the rest of the year.  BUT – it was all on sale so that’s good right!!  I ordered from Fat Quarter World- anyone else use them?  I just found them recently.  I’ll post a photo of the selection when it gets here, shouldn’t be long it has already been shipped.

It was nice  to be able to pull off the shelf all the fabric that I needed  for the guild challenge project.  I don’t have a large stash but nice that it is large enough for some projects without running to see what I can order on line (I don’t have a fabric store near by).   Even the backing I had on hand and a large enough piece of batting too that was left over from something else.  I have begun quilting on that today.  It is a small project but I will have to make sure I do a little almost every day so I can finish it by the end of March.  I will leave it with someone else in case I’m not back for the May meeting.  I think we will be back from Maryland and Virginia by then but who knows.

Tonight the small quilts are put aside and while the President is talking I will be working on Dear Jane and listen to the tv from the quilting frame.  That way I can get some work done and keep informed at the same time.  Tomorrow is off to North West Arkansas for the day to visit my mom.  It is a two hour drive both ways so I don’t run really often, but I haven’t visited since December – the winter weather was always so crazy or else we had colds or something that I didn’t want to pass on to her — she is 84 and I don’t want her to sick from one of my colds.

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“Insanity” stitches begin

by Karen on February 23, 2009

in Dear Jane -- or Insanity as I call

dear janeAfter a long 4 years from the beginning stitch of this quilt it is on the quilting frame and stitch workstitches have begun.  It will be a process that will take anywhere from six months to a year most likely as we will be traveling now and then and breaks are always taken from fingers getting sore.  Breaks are also taken because I start more projects than I can finish quickly and I drop activity on one project to work on another.  I made a good start quilting today.    I loaded the quilt top side first to be quilted and I am quilting from what is the top right corner first.  I am putting as much quilting as I can in this quilt as I feel it will hold up better that way.  Each block, triangle and corner will be quilted in it’s own unique way to go with the pattern.  I am doing a geometric design on the plain triangles all the same.  The thread I am using is called King Tut quilting thread.  This is a variegated thread in a shade called “Autumn dear-jane-number-2Days” it is yellow, orange, red, and green.  I thought because this quilt has so many different colors in it that this thread would go well and so far I love it.   I have already put almost 2 hours of quilting on it today and really have not gotten that far!  I am a slow hand quilter although a persistent one.  I only quilt for about 30 to 45 minutes at each sitting.  I get up frequently to take breaks and stretch and do other things.  I am a great believer in if you sit too long at the quilting frame you get more aches and pains then you should have.  I really do not know how people sit so long without taking breaks – but then my girls have told me that I am hyperactive   :)   LOL I guess that is where my grandson gets it from!  I have read different 3305416920_956dfd95fdarticles where it states that so and so quilter spends 8 hours a day quilting! I could never do that I have too many other things that I like to do as well.

I will keep you all up to date with progress and pictures along the way.  Some of these will be printed out and taped into my journal.  Not all Dear Janers keep a journal of the journey through the dear Jane quilt but a lot do.  I have kept track from the beginning of how many pieces are in the quilt, time taken piecing, and interesting things that have happened along the way in family life and places we have seen.  I will do the same for the quilting.  Where I stand right now with the quilt is 487 hours 45 minutes of making the top, and 4928 pieces of fabric in the quilt.  The top took 3 years and 3 weeks to complete (of course I made I don’t know how many other quilts along the way and finished them).  Lets see how long it takes now to quilt it  :)

The very first photo in the top left hand corner is at 8:15 this morning still in my robe and hair not done therefore I am not shown in the photo LOL, getting those first long awaited stitches in the quilt.

EDITED:  I forgot to mention at the top that this is my daughters birthday — I started the Dear Jane on her birthday 4 years ago and that is why even though it was ready to quilt almost a year ago, I delayed putting it on the quilting frame for several reasons one of which was to finish other projects but besides that it was even though it might have been a silly reason — I wanted to start quilting it on the anniversary of when I started to piece it – which was on my daughter’s birthday – so happy birthday Mel – and yes one day after I get to enjoy it for awhile this quilt will be yours – I know you have been coveting it for some time!

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Apple Butter Waffles….and

by Karen on February 22, 2009

in Baking/cooking, family, Interesting Links

And I will begin quilting on “Insanity” (Dear Jane) I will have to have a picture taken of the first stitches to put in my dear Jane journal which has kept track of the journey since the beginning along with a few photo’s of progress now and then.  I had such a rotten headache this morning that I didn’t do any sewing at all, it was all I could do to lift my head.  It has been sticking with me all day, never quite gone and getting worse again this evening – I’m glad it doesn’t happen often – maybe allergies caused it, plenty of trees are putting out their pollen already.

I thought I would post a recipe tonight seeing as I have run out of mugs and run out of apple butter sour doughquestions!  I will have to find 3302544226_427b90c2631something new to post on besides progress on quilting projects.  If you go to the other Karen’s site at the Dakota Country Kitchen she has the recipe for the sourdough starter that is needed for my waffle recipe – I wouldn’t want to steal it from her and post it here.  She has pictures and everything so you can see how easy it is to do it.  She also posted a new recipe for sourdough pancakes which I will be trying soon, they look delicious.  On the left picture is the sour dough after it has been sitting out for a couple hours waiting to be used – warming up if you will.  The one on the right is apple butter waffle batter ready to use, that is the variation that I am cooking.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Waffles

1 1/2 cups of sourdough starter
2 eggs
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter, or oil of your choice
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups whole wheat flour

Mix everything together.  If you think of it the night before you make them you could put the 1 1/2 cups of starter on the kitchen counter top in a covered tightly bowl.  I tried it twice and once I remembered and once I didn’t, it worked both times just fine.3302547440_0ba9f42f1d

Turn your waffle iron on to heat while you are stirring the ingredients together – don’t forget to put back into your starter what you took out — in this case 1 1/2 cups of flour and 1 1/2 cup warm water, stir it up and put back in the refrigerator.

You could mix this up the night before you intend to use it and store it in the refrigerator and it works great also, cover tightly.

I used about 3/4 cup of batter per waffle and cooked them for about 4 or 5 minutes until the steam is just about completely gone – they did brown quite a bit so you might want to keep an eye on them.

3301717367_6d9bb79a0aSeeing as it is just for me and Mike I only make what we will eat and then I stored the uncooked batter back in the refrigerator tightly covered and we have waffles again within a day or two – just make sure you stir the batter good before you use it.  You could make all of them and freeze what you don’t use but I like them fresh and have the time most mornings so I just heat the waffle iron back up and they cook in minutes.

Several variations of this recipe:

Chocolate-chocolate chip : add 1/2 cup cocoa, 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, and a pinch of cinnamon and you have a desert waffle – top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

apple butter sourdough wheat waffleApple Butter Waffles: add a 1/2 cup of homemade applebutter to batter, decrease milk and orange juice by a tablespoon each. You could add walnuts to this too.  I used my apple butter that I posted a recipe for in November at the link.

Now doesn’t this waffle look lovely! It taste great too.

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another free give away!

by Karen on February 22, 2009

in quilts

so many free give aways are being held right now.  If you like purses here is another one.  A multi-purpose purse that can double for a lunch carrier.  It is insulated and cute and several different colors to choose from.  Go on over the Bags n Rags and see what she has.

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Lazy Day

by Karen on February 21, 2009

in Interesting Links, life in general

You know I really did not do much today in the line of quilting.  I did do some work on the challenge quilt – it wasn’t much though, but I can tell it will not be really hard to do.  I do not need anything hard with as many things as I am working on right now.

I have run out of quilting questions so I’m really not sure where it will go from here.  Yesterday’s question asked: patchwork pieces are traditionally sewn together using which of the following seam allowance widths ?  so easy – I bet no one even had to think on that one — answer: 1/4″

Monday I begin to quilt on Dear Jane “Insanity” how I have held off not picking up my needle to start quilting before the 23rd of February is beyond me, I really wanted to but yet at the same time I wanted to wait for the 4th anniversary of when I started this quilt as it was so close to that date.  Everything is ready to go with it.

Besides questions I have run out of mugs to show you!  I have one mug left for today- I got it at Rocky Mountain 3298210157_2d272ed9aaNational Park. It is a little mug, maybe holds 10 ounces, the picture on the mug is of the mountains.  If you have never gone to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado  you would love it – if you can go see it.  We have spent many vacations there and have tent camped in the park and also stayed in motels and even a rented a KOA cabin once.  The little town of Estes Park right next to the entrance to the park is a delight!  I’m going to leave you all some links to this park.  Are any of you firmiliar with the book (also a movie) “The Shining” by Stephen King?  Well in this book is a huge hotel in the mountains, the hotel in the book  was based on the hotel called the “The Stanley Hotel” in Estes Park, we spent a couple nights at this hotel one vacation as we had seen the outside of it numerous times and just wanted the experience.   A very old, very nice place.  I made sure I watched the movie before we got there to remember it all and to get the spooky feeling while walking down the hallways of the ghosts in the book   :)   my husband laughed at me for that.  If you ever do get to this park and this area, inside the park there is a very long mountain road that goes from one end of the park to another – very steep, and very very pretty, it is called Trail Ridge Road – it is a must see.  It reaches an elevation of 12,183 feet!! It might be 80 degrees in the valleys of the park but bring a jacket if you plan on going to the top and get out a little to see the scenery.  It is usually chilly and not unusual for it to be in the 50′s or cooler.  We have seen a lot of animals in this park and even a bear or two.  We will not be going there this year seeing as plans are already made for Yellowstone and the Grand Teton, but we will get there again I know.

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another free give away at…..

by Karen on February 21, 2009

in quilts

Judi at the Green Fairy is giving away one of her wonderful tote bags that she makes.  Visit her site and tell her I sent you if you come from here.   She has 5 bags you choose the one you like the best the and tell her.

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